The grandparents of Eddie
DeVries were Andrew and Marie [Mundhenke] DeVries. Grandpa [Opa] was born also
in Illinois. Opa was born in 1862 – Oma was born in 1863. They were married in
1883. In 1885, the young couple emigrated to South Dakota to make their home
three miles northwest of Chancellor, SD. Ten children were born to them. Two
died at birth. Andrew died in 1932 and Mary in 1939.
Eddie’s
father, Andrew and Marie’s third child, was born in 1889 He married Lena
Hilbrands in 1913. Five children were born to the couple. Marie [Dick] Plucker,
Elizabeth [Harm] Hagena, Evylin [Martin] Symens, Andrew [Marles] and Eddie
[Dorothy]. Lena died in 1928, when Eddie
was 2-1/2 years old. John later, married Ella Hilbrands, to whom two children
were born. Merlin [Vera Jean] and Darlene [Harold] Friese. Ella died on March
18, 1963 and John died on September 10, 1963.
The
grandparents of Dorothy Plucker DeVries were John P. and Christena [Witte]
Plucker. They were both born in Illinois. Christina’s father moved the family
to the Chancellor area in 1886 when he became the first pastor of a newly
organized Germantown Presbyterian Church. John and Christine were married in
November of 1893. They raised six children, two of which died in early life.
M. E. J.
[Menne], the third child of John and Christine, was born in 1900. He married
Dena Thaden on June 4, 1924 at Willow Lake, South Dakota. Dena was born October
29, 1902. Before living on their own farm, ¼ mile east of Germantown church,
they lived in Lennox, South Dakota, Princeton, Illinois, and Dubuque, Iowa.
Three children were born to the couple. Dorothy June [DeVries], Robert Elvin
and Jean Ellen [Straatmeyer]. M. E. J. died on October 19th, 1969.
Dena died at the age of 99 years, August 7, 2002.
Eddie
DeVries, born in 1923 and Dorothy Plucker, born in 1926, were married on May
19, 1946 at the Germantown church. Eddie worked at home and also farmed 80
acres northwest of Lennox. Dorothy graduated from Lennox High “School and the
next year, began teaching rural school District #87. She taught for two years
until their marriage. They began married life a mile west of Germantown Church,
then, a year later moved to Grandfather Plucker’s farm, northeast of
Chancellor. They lived there for 38 years until a stroke forced them to sell
livestock and machinery and give up farming. They moved into Lennox in 1984.
Eddie passed away on May 19, 1994, after 48 years of marriage.
Eddie and
Dorothy raised four children. Dale lives in Auburn, Washington with his wife,
Kathy. He enjoys teaching middle school and coaching boys and girls basketball
and track. Kathy works as a school secretary. They have four children.
Kenneth
and his wife, Karen, life in Sunburst, Montana. Ken graduated from Black Hills
State and Taught Industrial Arts in the Sunburst High School for 29 years. In
2001, he began working full time at the U.S. border as an immigration officer.
Karen works at the telephone office. They have two boys.
Faye
[DeVries] Bossman and her husband, Duane, live in Tama, Iowa with their three
girls. Duane is employed at the Iowa State Juvenile Home in Tama. They
home-schooled their girls through high school. Faye drives a school bus for the
school district.
Nola
lives in Sioux Falls and does volunteer work in a nursing home, a hospital and
her church. In 2006, she was diagnosed with a disease called Neurofibromatosis.
This has changed her life completely as she now lives in a group home, is in a
wheel chair and is nearly helpless.
Eddie and
Dorothy have been members of the Germantown Church all of their married life
where they have been active in music, Sunday School and have held various
offices in the church. Since Eddie’s death, Dorothy has continued to live in
her home in Lennox, always thanking God for a rich and full life.
Written by Dorothy DeVries for the 1994 Chancellor, SD Anniversary Book
